Collapse of the pound Holiday makers will still pay around £85 more per €1,000 they spend this year, compared to April 2008

Collapse of the pound against the Dollar, and to a lesser extent the Euro, mean British holiday makers will find their break in the Med, or their Disneyland trip, much more expensive this year.Research from moneysupermarket.com reveals it will cost Brits nearly £300 more for every $1,500 spent in the States now, compared to this time last year.For European travellers the outlook isn't much better, despite the pound's recent rally against the Euro holiday makers will still pay around £85 more per €1,000 they spend this year, compared to April 2008.Peter Harrison, travel money expert at moneysupermarket.com, said: "There can be no doubt the weakening pound will have a big impact on where people can afford to go on their summer holidays this year. Trips to Europe and America are going to be much...

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Posted in: Collapse of the pound

Action star Dolph Lundgren's wife was left traumatized after robbers tied her up in their home

Action star Dolph Lundgren's wife was left traumatized after robbers tied her up in their home. The masked burglars abandoned the robbery after discovering the house belonged to the "Rocky IV" star.Three armed thieves broke into his Costa del Sol villa and tied his wife Anette, who was alone in the estate. They were terrorizing her into giving them cash, jewelries, and other valuables when they recognized the actor's picture in a family portrait.They quickly abandoned the raid.The 6ft. 5 in. karate black belter, who gained fame playing Russian boxer Ian Drago opposite Sylvester Stallone's Rocky in the film's fourth installment, consoled his wife...

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Posted in: Marbella

WARNING:Portuguese man-of-war seen close to the beaches of the Costa del Sol, in southern Spain, and off the coast of Murcia, in the south-east.

Portuguese man-of-war , with their lethal stings, made an unusual incursion into waters normally considered too warm for them.The jellyfish have been seen close to the beaches of the Costa del Sol, in southern Spain, and off the coast of Murcia, in the south-east.The Portuguese man-of-war, a jelly-like creature, gives a burning sting that is far more painful than that of a jellyfish.In extreme cases, the sting can cause heart attacks in victims who are allergic to it.Westerly winds have blown the Portuguese men-of-war into the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar and along the length of Spain's southern coast, scientists said."They go...

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Posted in: Portuguese man-of-war

Arrested a taxi driver who is accused of raping a British tourist in the Marbella hotel

On Tuesday the woman, who is around 50 years old, had lunch in a restaurant in Marbella and then asked for a taxi to collect her and take her to her hotel.The taxi driver took the woman to her hotel and then apparently went with her up to her room. Sources close to the case say that the hotel receptionist saw the driver go up to the fourth floor and then come down some minutes later. It was during this period of time that the rape allegedly took place.Once the driver had gone, the woman told a friend what had happened. The friend took the woman to the Costa del Sol Hospital for an examination. The results of the examination said that there were signs of sexual aggression involving penetration - which the woman says was against her will - and light bruising on her arms which could have been...

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Posted in: Marbella hotel

Danish citizen who was wanted by Great Britain for alleged crimes of robbery, fraud and money laundering has been arrested in Fuengirola.

Danish citizen who was wanted by Great Britain for alleged crimes of robbery, fraud and money laundering has been arrested in Fuengirola. A European warrant had been issued by the British courts for the arrest of T.G.G.K. (30), who has allegedly done dozens of people out of more than three million pounds sterling (almost five million euros). The victims of the swindle had bought shares in different companies that were worth nothing. T.G.G.K. was wanted for a total of fourteen alleged crimes related to fraud and money laundering committed between 2003 and 2006.The Spanish police unit dedicated to finding fugitives has also arrested British I.S.J. (24) in Formentera del Segura in Alicante and German E.K. (59) in Els Poblets - also in Alicante. The British man was wanted in his country for robbery,...

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Posted in: Fuengirola

Hicham Mandari lying face down in a garage between Mijas and Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol with a bullet in his head

Spanish police first came upon the body of Hicham Mandari lying face down in a garage between Mijas and Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol with a bullet in his head, they thought him just one more victim of a revenge attack among gangsters, typical of the region. Or they said they did. But the death of the young Moroccan has involved the secret services of four countries and turned a spotlight upon the secretive, sometimes menacing world of the Moroccan royal court.Mandari's body was found around midnight on 4 August, but it was not until 11 days later that police confirmed the death and ventured that the assassination by a single 9mm bullet shot upwards from the back of the neck bore the hallmark of a professional contract killing. The crime was "the work of common delinquents, very probably...

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Posted in: Coast of Lead

Christopher Wiggins, 42, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine from South America believed to be worth more than 650 million euro

Christopher Wiggins, 42, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply cocaine from South America believed to be worth more than 650 million euro (£580 million). Wiggins, based in the Costa del Sol in Spain, pleaded guilty at a brief hearing in Cork Circuit Criminal Court. Wiggins, was detained after Irish navy, gardai and customs swooped on the 60ft ocean-going boat, Dances With Waves, 170 miles off the west Cork coast last November. Intelligence agencies had tracked the boat for two months across the Atlant...

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Posted in: Costa del Sol

Wanted for alleged document forgery, fraud and identity theft.

Arrested a 64-year-old man from Potenza (Italy) who was living in Marbella. Wanted for alleged document forgery, fraud and identity the...

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Posted in: Marbella

Police raids 60 prostitutes from Carambola, Canela, Manhatten and H2 roadside clubs

Eight club owners seized along with 60 prostitutes from the Carambola, Canela, Manhatten and H2 roadside clubs, all in El Ejido and Roquetas de Mar.largest network of traffickers of Russian women for means of sexual exploitation ever to have been investigated in Spain has brought the Spanish National Police to Almeria Province where the greatest number of arrests has been made.Operation ‘Zarpa’, which is in its third stage of development, has led to the arrests of 24 men and women in Almeria who have been controlling the illegal network. The Ministry for the Interior says a total of 400 women have now been arrested for being in Spain illegally as part of the operation, who were placed in flats which were tightly controlled and supervised. Eighteen properties in Almeria Province were raided...

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Posted in: Canela,Carambola,Manhatten and H2 roadside clubs

‘Robin de los Bancos’, was arrested in Barcelona University

‘Robin de los Bancos’, was arrested in Barcelona University after reappearing yesterday saying the money he had obtained had gone to produce a new free newspaper which proposes his own ‘post-capitalist’ plan to overcome the crisis, and includes a guide on how not to pay your mortgage. He said he had spent the previous six months in exile outside Spain but had come back as ‘our future is at stake’. The police claimed last October that 18 banks had presented denuncias against him, while he claimed that only four had done so and those cases had been archived. Despite that claim he was arrested yesterd...

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Posted in: ‘Robin de los Bancos’

The new ‘Costa del Crime’.Russel Ruble has just been returned to America by the FBI to stand trial for a theft of over $320,000 from his relatives.

In the last few months there has been much written about foreign fugitives who have sometimes lived here for many years without detection. We have had an Englishman John Darwin who faked his own death at sea in a canoe while his wife Anne collected thousands of pounds in life insurance and moved here.The only reason he got caught was because he was stupid enough to pose for a picture for a real estate company.In the last couple of weeks The Panama Star reported the case of David Matusiewicz and his mother abducting his three children and living happily in Cerro Azul in a $175,000 property. He also forged his ex-wife’s name to obtain a home equity loan; he even had the audacity to sell an optometry business.All this netted him in excess of a million dollars. Another fugitive Russel Ruble has...

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Posted in: ‘Costa del Crime’.

37 year old man to be given 6 years , after being arrested in his vehicle transporting nearly 300 grams of cocaine.

37 year old man to be given 6 years , after being arrested in his vehicle transporting nearly 300 grams of cocaine.According to the indictment, which has had access Efe, they have been watching him since March 21st, 2007 when the police set up a device to monitor the vehicle of the defendant, after learning that he was planning to travel to Almería to acquire a “significant amount of drugs. ”After being observed during the outward journey to the border of the province of Almeria, the officers stopped the man around the town of Guadix and after registration of the car they found a bag containing 282.99 grams of cocaine on the illicit market which would have reached a value of 12,552 euros.The prosecution asked for the accused, who has been more than two months in custody for this reason, in...

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Posted in: Audiencia Provincial de Granada

family clan responsible for dozens of burglaries in Elche have been arrested

Eight members of a gang responsible for dozens of burglaries in Elche have been arrested in an operation by National Police.The Interior Ministry described them as a family clan and said in a press release that one was also wanted for attempted rape. Seven of the suspects are Spanish, while the eighth person in custody, a Moroccan man, was responsible for selling on the stolen items. More than 60 robberies are noted, many of them in outlying areas.The operation was carried out in two phases and seized a number of firearms and two vehicl...

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Posted in: Elche